Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network – “Nomads Past and Present”
Host: Maggie Freeman
Guest: Eric Halsey, author of State Builders from the Steppe: A History of The First Bulgarian Empire
Date: November 13, 2025

This episode features a rich conversation between Maggie Freeman and Eric Halsey about the overlooked yet foundational history of the First Bulgarian Empire. Halsey, an American historian and creator of the Bulgarian History Podcast, shares the story of how a nomadic steppe elite ultimately forged a stable, long-lasting European state—laying the groundwork for Bulgaria’s national identity and impacting the history of Europe and beyond.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Eric Halsey’s Unlikely Journey to Bulgarian History

• Serendipitous beginnings: Halsey, with no Bulgarian ancestry or family ties, describes falling into Bulgarian history through a high school romance and a gifted book on Tsar Boris III. This, coupled with the academic realization that Bulgaria was an underexplored historical field, drove his scholarly path.
  • “It felt like a place where, okay, I can really have an impact here. I could contribute to this space.” (03:40)

2. Why Write about the First Bulgarian Empire?

• Filling a gap: Halsey notes the dearth of accessible, modern English-language books on this period, with the last major volume published in 1930.
  • “We need an updated kind of complete history that’s a little more accessible. So I wanted to start there.” (05:55)

3. Who Were the First Bulgarians?

• Origin and dispersal:
  • The First Bulgarian Empire began after the fall of Old Great Bulgaria (in present-day Ukraine/Crimea), dispersing Bulgars throughout Eurasia.
  • The Bulgars settling south of the Danube (modern Bulgaria) established a lasting state in 681 CE.
• Transformation:
  • The story is a classic steppe-to-settled transformation, with a nomadic warrior elite ruling settled peoples (Slavs, Greeks, Thracians) and gradually merging their identities.
  • Conversion to Orthodox Christianity and development of institutions modeled on Byzantium were key.
  • Lasting achievements: Cyrillic alphabet, Old Church Slavonic, influence on Orthodox Christianity and Hungarian migration.
  • “They created the Cyrillic Alphabet, which is used by about 250 to 300 million people around the world, which… no one knows is from them. Everyone assumes it's Russian…” (09:43)

4. The Bulgarian Steppe Elite: Identity and Assimilation

• Original structure:
  • Led by a khan and an aristocratic warrior elite (boyars), who saw raiding and conquest as the state's main purpose.
  • “The state's purpose is to facilitate this kind of raiding, this taking of loot… accumulating wealth.” (13:12)
• Gradual shift:
  • Elites (led by the khans) recognized the need for integration with the Slavic majority—opening the aristocracy, adopting Christianity, and urbanizing.
  • This process was fiercely resisted by traditional boyars, resulting in civil wars and assassinations.
  • “They allow Slavs into the elite… eventually Christianity becomes a state religion… little by little… transition into what we would think of as a classic medieval European state.” (14:36)

5. Pastoralism, Economy, and Landscape

• Blending ways of life:
  • The Bulgars’ initial pastoralist horse-warrior lifestyle, in a region dominated by Slavic agriculture and Vlach (Romance-speaking) pastoralism.
  • Persistence of some mountain pastoralism, but a marked transition toward settled, agrarian, and fortified society among elites. (16:51)

6. Historical and Cultural Legacies

• Almost total assimilation:
  • Language, religion, and most steppe cultural markers were lost.
  • Only a handful of modern Bulgarian words, a few place names, and scattered traditions even potentially trace back to the proto-Bulgarians.
  • “The kind of elements of that nomadic steppe, pastoralist background are almost completely gone.” (18:27)

7. Sources, Evidence, and Uncertainty

• Sparse material remains:
  • Minimal direct documentation from the First Bulgarian Empire. Reliance on Byzantine, Armenian, and later sources.
  • Halsey emphasizes scholarly honesty about uncertainty, in contrast to traditional, often ideologically driven nationalist narratives.
  • “It’s important to push back... and just say, like, we’re just not sure about a huge number of things.” (23:13)
• Potential bias in sources:
  • Byzantine chronicles—primary narrators—depict Bulgars in heavily pejorative terms.
  • “There’s a quote from maybe Theophanes the Confessor just called them, like a foul, unclean tribe.” (25:13)
• Long ‘blank periods’ in the historical record:
  • Because most sources are external, peaceful decades often go undocumented. (24:21)

8. Empire Status: Nomenclature and Controversy

• Why “Empire”?
  • In Bulgaria, calling the medieval state an “empire” (rather than tsardom or kingdom) can be controversial, with both political and academic debates around the term.
  • Halsey justifies use of “empire” based on both the size/ethnic diversity and acquisition of acknowledged imperial (Byzantine) titles.
  • “A lot of Bulgarians saw the title by book and immediately labeled me some, like, nationalist… There’s legitimate historical reasons to say this.” (28:46)

9. Fall of the First Bulgarian Empire

• Complex factors:
  • Internal weakening after conversion to Christianity:
    • Rise of hermitism and the Bogomil heresy, which undermined participation in state society and economic life.
    • “There’s no reason to pay taxes, no reason to have children… state rulers were not a fan of this religion.” (30:47)
  • External invasion:
    • Byzantine manipulation of nomadic invaders backfired when the Kievan Rus under Sviatoslav conquered Bulgaria and became a major threat.
    • Subsequent combined Byzantine-Bulgarian effort expelled Kievan Rus but left Bulgaria devastated.
    • Byzantine Emperor Basil II (“the Bulgar Slayer”) waged relentless campaigns, culminating in total conquest.
    • “He blinded 99 out of 100 of the soldiers and left the 100th man with one single eye so he could lead the army back home.” (Battle of Klutch, 35:22)
    • The last Bulgarian tsar Samuel dies of a heart attack upon witnessing the aftermath—a tragic end.
    • “If there’s one guy in Bulgarian history I would most like to see like a miniseries about, it’s that guy Samuel. Because his story is just unbelievably tragic…” (36:10)

10. Legacy and Modern Memory

• Sparse physical relics:
  • A few ruins (Pliska, Preslav), statues, and the Madara Horseman bas-relief are the primary tangible remnants.
  • The Cyrillic alphabet, Orthodox Christianity, and Old Church Slavonic represent more lasting impacts.
  • “You could travel all around Sofia and… not really know anything or hear much of anything about this medieval history.” (38:05)
• Historical memory is politicized:
  • Narratives about Bulgarian origins have changed drastically according to prevailing political ideologies (Nazi, communist, Thracianist, etc.).
  • During communism, Russian/Soviet influence led to under-emphasis of steppe-nomad and early medieval Bulgarian identity.
  • “The story kept changing… due to the politics of the time.” (40:44)
  • Commemoration through monumental Soviet-style architecture related to the 681 CE founding date is present, but everyday Bulgarians have little tangible connection to this past.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• On the unrecognized influence of the First Bulgarian Empire:

  “They created the Cyrillic Alphabet, which is used by about 250 to 300 million people around the world… Everyone assumes it’s Russian…”
  (Eric Halsey, 09:43)

• On the challenges of reconstructing nomadic and steppe histories:

  “You’re constructing this story around the holes, and the holes are often bigger than…the information that does remain.”
  (Maggie Freeman, 23:59)

• On nomadic assimilation:

  “If you look at the modern Bulgarian language, you can count the number of words that trace back to proto Bulgarian on one hand.”
  (Eric Halsey, 18:30)

• On Byzantine views:

  “There’s a quote from maybe Theophanes the Confessor just called them, like a foul, unclean tribe.”
  (Eric Halsey, 25:13)

• On historical politics and rewriting origins:

  “…Nazis versus Communists versus geneticists versus the tourism board… This story kept changing over and over and over due to the politics of the time.”
  (Eric Halsey, 39:56)

• On the dramatic end of the empire:

  “He blinded 99 out of 100 of the soldiers and left the 100th man with one single eye so he could lead the army back home.”
  (Eric Halsey, 35:22)
  “…that’s the kind of like the final coup de grace… so it’s a dramatic story.”
  (Eric Halsey, 36:03)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• (02:29) – Halsey’s introduction to Bulgarian history
• (05:06) – Rationale for focusing on the First Bulgarian Empire
• (06:37–10:32) – Origins, dispersal, state-building, and achievements
• (12:40–14:56) – Steppe aristocracy, Slavic integration, and state transformation
• (16:51) – Subsistence and socio-economic blending
• (18:27) – The near-total assimilation of steppe legacy
• (22:08–24:21) – Challenges and biases in the sources, historical uncertainty
• (25:06–28:17) – Byzantine perceptions, legitimacy, and imperial titles
• (30:05–36:03) – The fall of the First Bulgarian Empire: internal dissent, heresy, invasion, and conquest
• (37:05) – Physical and cultural remnants in modern Bulgaria
• (39:56) – Historical memory, shifting narratives, and the politics of identity

Closing Note

Eric Halsey’s State Builders from the Steppe offers a compelling, accessible narrative of a people and a period too often marginalized in European history. Through meticulous but readable research, he shines light on the proto-Bulgarian transformation from steppe nomadism to a pillar of medieval Christian Europe—leaving behind an indelible, if often unrecognized, cultural legacy.

“I did very much design the book so that it could be used by academics and students… but the narrative itself is very much written to be just an enjoyable read for the everyday person.”
(Eric Halsey, 43:11)